Trump wants voters to 'pretend I'm on the ballot.' They should | Opinion

President Donald Trump has been pleading for weeks for American voters to "pretend I'm on the ballot" when they decide in these midterm elections which political party will control Congress in January.

Trump may get what he's asking for. Sort of. And probably not in the way he hopes.

Public opinion polling in the closing days of the midterms shows that the economy is the top issue on the minds of American voters. They're not happy about it. And they blame Trump.

An Oct. 22 CNBC/All-America Economic Survey found that 8 in 10 Americans rate our economy as fair or poor, with 63% pessimistic about the outlook, and growing unease among Republicans.

Republicans have been busy rebranding their economy

Trump won a second term in 2024 on a promise to revitalize America's economy.

But an October New York Times/Sienna poll found that 59% of Americans disapprove of Trump. And an Oct. 13 Gallup survey found that 51% of Americans trust the Democratic Party to keep America "prosperous," while 37% went for the Republican Party.

So how have the Democrats and Republicans promised to turn around America's economy? And, as Trump has tried to help his Republican Party, has he instead just stepped on and complicated those efforts?

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, offered in an Oct. 30 USA TODAY op-ed a more-of-the-same argument for allowing his party to control Congress. Johnson cited Trump's signature legislation – the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a package of short-term tax cuts for working Americans and much larger, never-expiring tax cuts for the wealthiest people in our country – as proof that Republicans deserve to remain in charge.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, also puts the One Big Beautiful Bill at the center of his party's economic policy for 2027, though he uses the attempted rebranded moniker of "Working Families Tax Cuts."

That's a tough sell for Republicans. Signed into law July 4, 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill has never been popular with American voters.

Still, Trump has pressed forward with all-is-well messaging, insisting that America's economy is already booming while complaining that Democrats are somehow hoodwinking voters by expressing concerns about "affordability."

Trump has tried to deflect blame in a series of campaign speeches and interviews in the past month, suggesting that any trouble with "affordability" was something he inherited when he took office in January 2025.

Democrats are promising to undo what Republicans have done

Being dismissive of the top concern among American voters is a choice. And Trump keeps making it.

But the data keeps contradicting him. Inflation is up since he took office. Wages are down. And prices for gasoline and diesel, which impact all kinds of costs for American consumers, are still up because of Trump's war in Iran.

The Democratic approach to America's economy amounts to undoing what Trump has done.

U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, unveiled in July what he called a Fighting for an Affordable America agenda. It leans hard into reducing the cost of health care, which has risen under Trump, and bringing down costs by ending the war in Iran.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, also a New York Democrat, has also focused on health care costs and, like Jeffries, vows to roll back Trump's trade war tariffs, which have driven up costs for Americans.

Trump, of course, is the wild card as always as Republicans try to contrast themselves with Democrats in the midterms.

On Nov. 2, the day before Election Day, Trump decided to make his closing argument by revisiting his fixation on physical refurbishments and enhancements of Washington, DC, landmarks.

In a speech at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the site of a boondoggle restoration with budget overruns and false claims of criminal vandalism, Trump briefly touched on his tax cut legislation, claiming without offering evidence that "we're booming like we've never boomed before."

The rest of Trump's long and rambling speech meandered through standard topics from his campaign rally rhetoric, while he joked about renaming the reflecting pool in his own honor.

That's where the president's head is as Election Day looms – scattered all about – with no obvious concern for what angry and uneasy voters are really naming after him: The Trump Economy.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Chris Brennan on Bluesky, @bychrisbrennan.bsky.social, and on X, @ByChrisBrennan. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, Translating Politics, here.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump wants voters to 'pretend I'm on the ballot.' They should | Opinion

Reporting by Chris Brennan, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect

This story was originally published November 3, 2026 at 2:09 AM.